With all the discussion on what social media is, what it’s future will be like, who will control it, I often feel we fail to see the forest for the trees.
I see it as too diverse of a phenomenon to pin down with one easy definition. Its applications go far beyond the neat capsules that can be used to pick a particular department or function that should “own” it. Social media is creating, empowering, and accompanying a paradigm shift in the way we use all media.
Are we fully there yet? Of course not. These are only the early stages, part of an evolutionary process that often comes step by step. But those steps are happening and happening and soon we’ll look back and be amazed how far we’ve traveled. Then before we know it again, we’ll be stepping again and look back again and we’ll be amazed how much we’ve come from that first time we looked back.
Yes, organizations are going to have to harness social media in ways that they can benefit from, to reach ROI. This means trying to create some sort of structure for it without “siloizing” it. Very difficult indeed.
I’ve tried to lay out what I see social media as. Not from a specific definitional standpoint, but from a several miles up point of view.
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No Comments » Posted on July 30th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn